


Chocolate Flavored Surprises

by MiMyMomo



Series: Not By Blood Doesn't Mean Less Love [4]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22438540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiMyMomo/pseuds/MiMyMomo
Summary: Orpheus and Miko plan a sweet surprise of an overworked Eurydice
Relationships: Eurydice/Orpheus (Hadestown)
Series: Not By Blood Doesn't Mean Less Love [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540894
Kudos: 15





	Chocolate Flavored Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> Re-uploaded from Tumblr

It was a cold winter afternoon. Snow rapidly cascaded down from the gray clouds, covering every inch in a soft, powdery white. The wind shook the dead branches in the towering trees, long frozen icicles dangling tightly to their wood. The sky was light and so was the sky, the world glowed in bright white. The winter had anything but a breeze in the past month, yet also utterly beautiful and enticing all the same.Miko watched the scenic view from his seat by the one window, wrapped snug in an old, knitted blanket. He blew on to the window, the puff of air fogging up the glass, and drew a crude stick figure family- a slender man, a smaller woman with stick hair and a tiny child in between them. Orpheus, Eurydice and himself.

“Miko?”

The boy turned his head to see Orpheus semi-stunned, standing in the doorframe. The front door was wide open and bags of groceries laid at his feet. As he pushed the door closed, Miko grinned and quickly broke free of his blanketed cocoon, and rushed over to Orpheus’ side. Orpheus swiftly scooped the boy into his arms and hugged him close, the small boy’s arms wrapping perfectly around his neck.

“Hi, Papa!”

Orpheus smiled serenely, Miko may have been living with the two for months by this point, but the sound of Miko calling him “papa” never failed to send happy jitters all throughout his body. “Hello, you,” he poked his son’s soft stomach causing him to giggle and twitch. “Up and awake huh?”

Miko, face still glowing, nodded, “Mama’s still sleeping though.” That didn’t surprise Orpheus, his wife had to work a full day shifts, opening until closing, the past three days and was without a doubt exhausted. When Orpheus had left for his early morning shift, Eurydice hadn’t woken even a smidge. Not a blink, stir or even groan, she was dead asleep to the world around her. Miko had been fast asleep too when Orpheus had kissed him and his wife goodbye, but he shouldn’t have been surprised to see the boy had awoken in the few hours he’d been absent. “What’s in the bags, Papa?”

“Oh, right!” that’s when Orpheus had remembered his big plan. He wanted to do something special for Eurydice and Miko for a while now. The winter was never a season Eurydice truly enjoyed Orpheus wanted to do something to cheer her up and thought today would be the perfect afternoon to put that idea into action. Sure, Miko being awake wasn’t apart of the initial plan, but to Orpheus, having Miko join him would be even better. “Miko, would you like to help me with something?”

Miko’s eyes widened, and he began squirming with excitement in Orpheus’ arms, “Yes! Yes, I wanna help! Wait, help with what?”

The musician laughed, placing the curious child down on the floor, “it’s a surprise for Mama.”

“For Mama? Okay!” Miko cheered, flapping his arms and doing a little jig, his joy was absolutely infectious. Orpheus chuckled reaching down to grab one of the bags. But before he could lift the other, Miko had already snatched it up, heaving slightly at the weight, and hustled into the kitchen. Orpheus shook his head and followed his son’s hustle. “So Papa, what’d we making?” Miko questioned.

“First, cookies.”

“Cookies!” Miko yelled in childish glee.

Orpheus gently shushed the boy, placing a finger over his mouth, “shh, we don’t want to accidentally wake Eurydice up before her surprise is ready, right?”

“Oh, okay. Quiet, shh” Miko agreed, he copied Orpheus’ ministrations and put his finger up over his mouth as well. Much quieter than before, the two set out and began their baking prep work- pulling out bowls, spoons, and baking trays, laying out the ingredients on any available table and counter space and pre-heating the kitchens relic of an oven. They mixed butter and sugar by hand, Miko desperate to stir first before quickly growing tired and handing the large spoon over to Orpheus. Then came the addition of vanilla. Vanilla was quite expensive but to Orpheus, surprising his overworked wife was worth the splurge. Cracking open the bottle, an invisible cloud of sweetness immediately spread all throughout the already pleasant-smelling kitchen. After pouring a more than necessary amount of vanilla into the bowl, the two boys passed the bottle of dark brown liquid back and forth, taking large whiffs of the aromatic scent each time.

“Vanilla smells so good,” Miko said, passing the bottle to Orpheus.

“It does.”

“Does it taste good too?”

“I-” Orpheus paused, “I really don’t know.”

“Can I try some?” Miko asked.

“Why not?” Orpheus shrugged, passing the bottle back into the child’s hands. In all honesty, he was genuinely curious about the taste as well. Miko dipped his finger the tiniest bit into the bottle then stuck his finger in his mouth. He instantly recoiled, face scrunching up in dismay. His teal eyes watery and dyed with utter betrayal, “ack, yucky!”

Orpheus winced, “really bad?”

“Bad. Bad, bad,” Miko exclaimed, his nose crinkled up and mouth in a disappointed pout. “Why vanilla? You smelled so good…” Orpheus patted the young boy on the back, passing him a plastic cup filled with milk to help mask the bitter taste. Miko gulped the drink down with exaggerated vigor, letting out a loud ‘ahhh’ when he pulled the cup back from his lips.

They soon get back to work. With careful precision, Orpheus measured out cups of flour and handed them over to Miko. Miko then, as of handling flour shifted from the gods themselves, would pour them into the bowl. A white puff of flour dust flew into the air as the stirred the mixture, getting all over the counter and themselves. A few minutes later, after adding a large pinch of salt, they wrapped the dough and placed it into the fridge. As they waited for the dough to chill, they started cleaning the kitchen. They wiped down the counters and washed the dirty, used up dishes, Orpheus scrubbed while Miko rinsed. An accidental spray of misdirected water led to an all-out war of soap and water between the two resulting in soaking wet clothes and an even dirtier kitchen. By the time they completed recleaning the kitchen, the dough had finished chilling.

The two rolled out the dough into a semi-thick width. “Now, we got to cut the cookies out into rectangles,” Orpheus said, pulling out a knife from the drawer.

“Ooh, Papa, can I do it?” Miko begged, jumping up and down.

“Don’t tell your Mama, okay?” Miko zipped his mouth shut, locked it and tossed the imaginary key over his shoulder. Orpheus carefully transferred the knife into Miko’s hand, showing him how to grip the sharp utensil safely. He then proceeded to guide Miko’s hand with his own, slicing the dough into about two dozen long rectangular shaped cookies. Once they were done cutting, they placed the unbaked cookies onto a baking sheet and dusted them with more sugar. Finally, the cookies went into the oven.

As the cookies baked, they got started on their next venture: hot chocolate. Orpheus had learned the recipe from Hermes, who used to make the treat for the boy every winter as a child.

First, was the whipped cream, which needed to be refrigerated. They poured heavy cream and sugar into a bowl and took turns briskly stirring until the liquid turned into a fluffy, sweet whipped cream.

Next, they boiled water in a pot and added cocoa powder, sugar and a touch of salt, mixing them together for a few short minutes over the heat. As Miko continued to stir, Orpheus poured in cup after cup of milk and some vanilla, turning off the burner and removing the pan from the dying heat. Orpheus grabbed three mugs from the cabinet with Miko’s input (“the red one is yours, Papa, the yellow flower one is Mama’s and the blue one is mine!”) and divided the hot cocoa evenly between them all. Miko plopped marshmallows into each cup, counting to make sure everyone got an equally copious amount.

“Miko.”

“Hmm?” the young boy glanced up from his task to see Orpheus facing him, mouth wide open. Miko smiled, understandably and began tossing marshmallows into the air in the direction of Orpheus’ mouth. It took a few attempts, but finally one managed to make it into the waiting musician’s hungry mouth. “Yes,” Miko clapped.

Just as they were finishing up, the timer on the oven began to blare, meaning the cookies were ready. Declining Miko’s eager offer to help, Orpheus pulled the trays out of the oven and set them on the empty space on the stove, the shortbread a perfect, appetizing light brown color. A sugary scent of warm, buttery vanilla and velvety chocolate wafted throughout the house.

“I thought I smelled something good,” a voice called out from the opposite side of the room, causing Orpheus and Miko to jump. Eurydice stood in the entrance of the kitchen with her arms crossed, a tired, bemused smile plastered to her face. She wore one of Orpheus’ old T-shirts and a nightshirt that reached past her knees. Outlined creases from her pillow marked the sides of her face.

“Mama,” Miko ran straight to Eurydice, burying himself in her legs. He lifted his head and gave her the biggest smile, eyes twinkling with elation, “morning!”

Eurydice ran her fingers lovingly through Miko’s wavy curls and down the side of his face, cupping his cheek, “Good morning baby.”

Orpheus sauntered over to his lover, “Morning ‘Rydice.”

“Good morning to you too, lover boy,” Eurydice smirked. She stepped onto her tiptoes to press a short kiss to Orpheus’ lips, squishing Miko between them in the process. “Or should I say, good afternoon at this point? Gods, how long was I asleep? What time is it?”

“Four o’clock,” Miko answered innocently below her.

Eurydice sighed, “so I slept nearly all of my day off away…”

“You were tired,” Orpheus countered firmly, wiping away streaks of dried, crusty drool from the corners of his wife’s mouth with the pad of his thumb. With a feather-light touch, he lovingly pinched her cheek, “you needed your sleep.”

“Mama,” Miko said, lightly pulling on Eurydice’s old nightshirt. The child teetered up and down on the tips of his feet, bouncing as if he would burst in any second, “Mama, we made you a surprise!”

“You two did now?” Eurydice said, feigning a slightly bloated shocked tone. She glanced up and over at her husband, but Orpheus just smiled in response.

“Yep!” Miko grinned, pulling back from the warm embrace, “come see.” He towed Eurydice into the kitchen to show off their finished surprise. The cookies and hot cocoa were in their same spot on the stove and counter, steam still radiating off the burning hot treats. “Ta-dah!”

“Wow,” Eurydice gasped, truly stunned at the display in front of her. Sure, she had heard all of the commotion from her and Orpheus’ bedroom in her sleepy haze and smelled the saccharine air but she hadn’t known what was actually prepared, and that it was, in fact, for her. “You two made all this?”

“Mhmm,” Miko nodded, actually jumping by this point, “Papa said he wanted to surprise you. He let me help!”  
Eurydice turned to Orpheus, the poet scooping generous amounts of white cream onto the warm chocolatey drinks, “this was your idea huh?”

“Maybe,” Orpheus grinned, passing the mug with the yellow cartoon sunflower over to Eurydice’s waiting hands. Next, was Miko’s “here’s yours, Miko, extra whipped cream. Be careful, it’s still really hot.”

“‘Kay, thank you,” Miko said, sparkling eyes glued at the mountain of whipped cream that was piled high on top and cascading down the sides of his mug. “Mama, can we sit by the window?”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Eurydice agreed, letting the hyper boy tug her in the direction of the wide-open window.

Orpheus stacked a numerous amount of cookies onto a plate. And with his mug, he joined his family in their makeshift living room, plopping down right in front of the window next to Eurydice, Miko comfortably sitting in her lap. A cute whipped cream mustache lined his upper lip.

And at that moment, there was peace. There were three bodies close together, two covered in stay traces of dusty flour and dried cream and faintly emitted of vanilla and chocolate, one still wiping sleep from her eyes. Eurydice sat still, breathing in the air, the feeling burning hot chocolate sliding down her throat. She watched as the snow gently fell outside the frosty window. Tomorrow, she would have to brave the chill and icy weather. Tomorrow, she would have to serve round after round drinks to the dizzying crowd at the bar. She thought about how just like the falling snow, the time they all shared together would slowly but surely melt away. But today, today she had her shortbread cookies, her yellow sunflower mug filled to the brim with simmering hot chocolate, and her boys. Her boys who were sweeter than any dessert could ever dream of tasting. Right now, that’s all she needed.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow: @miko-and-companyau for future story updates  
> Main Tumblr: @mimymomo


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